What did you do recently to prep?

[Spamity Calamity]

This thread is very popular on the tsp forums and I thought I would start our own Chapter XXX version. It's a great way to log all the little things that you do everyday that go into prepping that maybe go unnoticed. So I will start it out:

Today we bought three buckets of cat litter because it was on sale and they all had coupons attached that said if you bought their cat litter, you got 2 free cans of cat food. So now we have 6 extra cans of cat food put back in the closet. If the zombie apocalypse comes today my two useless kitties will be able to survive at least a week.

I also googled around for recipes for some bulk foodstuffs that I have sealed in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers. I figure I better find some good recipes now for my bulk preps while I can.

[Spamity Calamity]

Aaaaand checkthebackseat was busy spraypainting the hood of his nissan with the Chapter XXX logo.

[hdandb]

Finished the food prep list. No not buying just getting the list together to know what to buy and how much to buy and how much money. The list is really only food and not other preps like barter items, ammo, sundries, stuff like that. It's kind of specific to what me and the family eat as well as the sizes. I know what the "big can" means but couldn't tell you how many lbs/oz is in there. These prices are from Sam's Club and WM if anybody wanted an idea of cost. Also, I have to double everything for my sister and the two girls. I figured them as one adult and they won't even eat that.

Feel free to throw some ideas out there that might work with this stuff. I may try to get a barter list together, not sure though of what to put on it yet.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc ... odmc#gid=0

[hdandb]

I also wanted to ask but I forgot, anybody else in Liberty Hill? I swear I remember another Liberty Hill person on here. I would like to run an idea past you if I could.

[Barr]

If you are looking to get preps on the cheap I'd suggest checking out http://www.adventuresincoupons.com. No I'm not being a blog whore, but I do kinda do some work there and there are some pretty good coupons available for food stuffs, and other things prep related. Also I do get paid a little teeny tiny bit if you click on or use the coupons. The owner of the blog is also very ZS friendly, if you email her she will give you free lessons on how to coupon.

She does have about 6 months of non perishable food stock, the perishable stuff does get rotated, and she got it all from grocery stores and walmart.


Not trying to shill, just throwing it out there.

[BigDirty]

Bought some Quick Seal clotting agent from Wally World. Cant wait to see how well it works. Any of you guys bought a clotting agent before?

[Helix67]

So BigDirty, how are you planning on testing it out? Your opportunity is closing in, we will all be crack shots after Fensters traing this saterday, so no possible chance of getting hit by a stray bullet!

[Spamity Calamity]

@ Big Dirty. Man I'd be careful with that stuff. Ive been told to use it as a last resort only. Unless something new is out.

Well I have a kind of prep to share. It's not a physical thing but very valuable knowledge. I won't go into the details but basically at work I allowed a 2 ton diesel truck to run dry. And of course Murphy's law dictates that it dies right in front of a supervisor and two of the crotchetyest guys at work. But the silver lining to this was I learned two important things. The first may be common knowledge to many of you but not to me. I learned that diesel's are a bitch to restart once they are run dry and they must be reprimed. But better yet I was shown a handy trick to get one restarted by taking off the air filter and holding some rags soaked in gasoline near the intake while somebody else cranks the engine. Very valuable knowledge to have filed away in case of emergency.

[Jeb_66]

Yeah, once it sucks the fuel filters dry you have to fill them back up and get the air out of the system. They are low pressure systems instead of like 60 psi gas vehicles run on. Makes bleeding the fuel system harder. The fuel soaked rag trick works better than starting fluid. I've seen people spray to much and let the engine run away. Seen a couple blow up from that too.

[Spamity Calamity]

Well today marks exactly one week of exercise for me. I've been doing this exercise dvd in my living room. Nothing crazy like P90x or Insanity but it keeps my heart rate up for 30 minutes and I'm sore all over so something must be working lol. Didn't do it everyday last week but I did get it in most days. Also been taking this stuff called Jack3d. Man I put that in my water before I exercise and it gets me FIRED UP!!!!

[zombieapocalypsegame]

I'm zeroed in on a weekly progress system at this point. Too much variance in my schedule to get to stuff every single day. I'd rather set myself up for success than hammer myself with failure when I don't get something done every single day. I can be my own worst enemy.

I did 2.5 things this week for prep.

The 0.5 was literally doing nothing, actually. The rain barrel collection system I put together gathered a bit of water from the tiny spritzing we got on the weekend. No energy expended by me, but I gained water for the garden. A small win, but since I did nothing I'll call that a bigger win. I love using gravity and weather as a force multiplier for how much I can accomplish. lol

As for the garden itself, I planted 70-ish starter potatoes in the raised bed. That only took up about 20sq ft of my 144sq ft garden. Between that & tending to the 8 trays x 72 seedlings/tray worth of carrots, beans, onions, peppers, celery, radishes, couple kinds of tomatoes, and a bunch of other veggies, I'm rocking the home grown food prep. The corn I had planted earlier is already sprouting, although the strawberries I planted don't seem to be doing much, if anything. Time will tell. Next up are squashes, watermelon, cantaloupe, and more. Got my eye out for an Excelsior 3900T dehydrator in the near future for all that food. The compost pile is doing great, too. I lump all that into renewable food prep.

Most recent thing was the firearm purchase.

Before this week is done, I will be...

• attending a firearm class with my wife. You guys might have heard about that class.
• applying for CHL, also with my wife.
• receiving my now completed incorporation papers - which will significantly reduce my yearly expenses via tax write-offs.

ZAG


p.s. The prior week was pretty good too. At the very beginning of that week is when I...

• finished the 10-barrel rain water collection system for the back yard
• sealed up & stored a separate 55 gallon drum with drinking water (even have that hand crank pump I talked about ready for it)
• added decent amount of ammo for the long gun + clay targets for practice

I am a huge fan of working from home. When I need a 10-minute break, I go outside and knock out something small in the garden.

[Spamity Calamity]

I'm zeroed in on a weekly progress system at this point. Too much variance in my schedule to get to stuff every single day. I'd rather set myself up for success than hammer myself with failure when I don't get something done every single day. I can be my own worst enemy.

Wording of thread changed to a more appropriate version.

[BigDirty]

Sad to say I cant make the class this weekend I know I needed it. But I am going camping, you know touching up on my survival know how! Or at least touching up on my beer and whiskey drinking skills 8) I did order a medical skin stapler on Amazon too. Didnt even know you could buy those. Have fun out there fellas.

[zombieapocalypsegame]

Did something useful today...

Field stripped and cleaned my pistol for the first time. Having just five parts (barrel, spring, block, slide, frame) on the Beretta made this a cakewalk. Taking that thing apart to that level is SO easy, it's downright silly. I had not been looking forward to the possible complexity of this, and now that I know what to expect there, I totally understand what CheckTheBackSeat was saying about how awesome that gun was to take care of. I spent a good hour and a half on it - reading as I went, going slow and just enjoyed the process.

I wish changing the oil on my car gave me the same sort of satisfaction. It doesn't. lol

ZAG

[zombieapocalypsegame]

Ok, somehow this thread went dormant. Did Chapter 030 prepping grind to a halt? I think not. Let's get this kick-started again.

What I did to prep in the past few days...

• Bought two 55 gallon steel drums for fuel storage today. Cleaning them out with rainwater overnight, then dry them out for several days.
• Dehydrated my first set of jerky. Marinated round steak for the win.
• Built some basic shelving in the shed so I can fit more in there. Scrap wood cost me $0.
• Shopped for holsters for my new CHL status, and looked at AR's a bit.
• CraigsList for a used lawn mower chassis to replace rusted out one I had, transfered motor over, serviced it, etc. Saved about $100+ vs a new mower, and now I know how to mount the motor on something else if needed (i.e. to an alternator for a generator)
• Bought a replacement battery for my UPS. Returned it because it wasn't what I ordered. Argh.
• Bought a wide-mouth jar sealer adapter. It isn't here yet and the track shipment status is taunting me. Double argh.

Your turn.

ZAG

[Barr]

I'm working on water preps at the moment using old 2 liter soda bottles.

Fill tub, break out hand pump filtration system, fill cleaned bottles, add a drop or two of bleach, granted it took me four hours to get 15 bottles done but that was from start to finish and I clean thoroughly dammit.

Next up is to get food preps taken care of, now I gotta get mylar bags and 5 gallon buckets.......crap.

[goofygurl]

I'm working on water preps at the moment using old 2 liter soda bottles.

Fill tub, break out hand pump filtration system, fill cleaned bottles, add a drop or two of bleach, granted it took me four hours to get 15 bottles done but that was from start to finish and I clean thoroughly dammit.

Next up is to get food preps taken care of, now I gotta get mylar bags and 5 gallon buckets.......crap.

Who takes care of food preps? Considering the budget? I don't think I"m doing too bad.

[zombieapocalypsegame]

Just finished my first (sorta) concealed carry trip.

I was going to the bank - two actually. I brought my brand new CHL permit, and my Beretta with me in the glove box. I made sure neither bank had a 30.06 sign preventing CCW, but decided I was not confident enough yet that I was 10000% concealed. So I went in with just my holster concealed instead.

Got zero reaction from anyone.

Next time I will bring my wife's smaller pistol, and try a CCW walk that way. I'll work my way up to the full size Storm.

ZAG

[KentsOkay]

Aaaaand checkthebackseat was busy spraypainting the hood of his nissan with the Chapter XXX logo.

That is awesome.

Today I shopped on Amazon for a hammock, and took stock of my ramen noodle pile.

[zombieapocalypsegame]

That is pretty cool.

ChecktheBackSeat - you still lurking around these days?

ZAG

[zombieapocalypsegame]

So this weekend was pretty productive. I...

• Refreshed my water supply in 55 gal barrels (it had been 6 mo)
• Getting my RV serviced
  
  • Rotated the water out that was in jugs & in tank on board (winterizing)
  • Replaced the 6v batteries with new ones (5+ years old on originals)
  • Getting it serviced (warranty work since the extended one expires next year)
• Returning my 9mm bullet mold for a replacement (it is warped and doesn't make bullets right)
• Purchased new batteries for my many Uninterruptible Power Supplies (about to deploy them tonight)
• Finally convinced the wife to take a CHL class + private instruction for her pistol
• Rearranged the garage, finding proper homes for all my non-drum water + food preps

[SRO1911]

Heb had major clearance - ended up with about 90 lbs of non-perishabls including about 15lbs of various hard candies and another 12 lbs of powdered whey protein at literally pennies on the dollar (also 4 bottles of Dave's insanity sauce, still almost a year inside the sell by date for .25 cents each. Both food and security in one happy bottle)

[goofygurl]

So this weekend was pretty productive. I...

• Refreshed my water supply in 55 gal barrels (it had been 6 mo)
• Getting my RV serviced
  
  • Rotated the water out that was in jugs & in tank on board (winterizing)
  • Replaced the 6v batteries with new ones (5+ years old on originals)
  • Getting it serviced (warranty work since the extended one expires next year)
• Returning my 9mm bullet mold for a replacement (it is warped and doesn't make bullets right)
• Purchased new batteries for my many Uninterruptible Power Supplies (about to deploy them tonight)
• Finally convinced the wife to take a CHL class + private instruction for her pistol
• Rearranged the garage, finding proper homes for all my non-drum water + food preps

Rockin out ZAC!

I ordered canning jars today so I can oven can some foods I have around that we won't go thru before it goes bad
Placed a Thrive order for some long term foods
Started going thru gear with Barr
Realized it's time to rotate water storage out
Packed a ton of older clothes away for possible bartering later on

and

bartered razors for food.

[goofygurl]

Heb had major clearance - ended up with about 90 lbs of non-perishabls including about 15lbs of various hard candies and another 12 lbs of powdered whey protein at literally pennies on the dollar (also 4 bottles of Dave's insanity sauce, still almost a year inside the sell by date for .25 cents each. Both food and security in one happy bottle)

Make sure you check HEB's Fresh or Free program too.

You;'ll have to check with your local store because each one has different rules, but if you find an item that is expired, take it AND a fresh one to the counter with you. You'll get the fresh one free. I have a local one that I get free meat from all of the time like this..lol